In the eight years since Ultravisitor (his last universally praised release) Squarepusher went off on wandering tangents. While this matched his refusal to be penned in, unfortunately the results weren’t great, were missing finesse (Hello Everything), jarring ‘unplugged’ jam sessions (Just a Souvenir), or lacked heart (Numbers Lucent). Solo Electric Bass 1 proved he still had ‘it’, but was essentially an academic textbook of a record. The less said about Shoba Leader One: d’Demonstrator the better; a record perhaps best understood in terms of Warp’s (largely) ill-advised dalliance with indie rock.

Inventiveness and creative restlessness is Warp’s greatest strength. Recently its roster has been reinventing itself. Clark reimagined his bonkers abrasiveness as virtuoso loveliness. Battles underwent a seismic shift with Gloss Drop, were deconstructed with Dross Glop and now are going back to basics. Tom Jenkinson’s decision to revert (almost) to type is something of an anomaly then. To continue reading this post please click here.